PHS second after Day 1

South sits in third place as Huntington sets the tone in AAA

February 21, 2013

HUNTINGTON - After day one of the 66th annual West Virginia State wrestling tournament, host Huntington is tied for first in Class AAA with Parkersburg at 34 while Wirt County took an early team lead in the Class AA/A division here Thursday night inside the Big Sandy Super Store Arena.

Four-time defending triple-A state champion Parkersburg South won nine of its 12 matches and that included a battle where Patriot 120-pounder Braidon Knotts scored a 12-0 victory against Ripley's Antonio Jones. However, the Patriots rested in third place with 33 points as first-year head coach Donna Dixon's team was ahead of Washington (31), Point Pleasant (27) and the Vikings (22.5) from Jackson County.

Little Kanawha Conference champion Wirt County, thanks to an 8-3 effort on day one, amassed 28 team points. That total put the orange and black in the early lead as Clay County and Independence are tied for second at 24.5. Top-ranked Greenbrier West struggled a little on Thursday and won seven of its 12 matches. The Cavaliers are tied for fourth with North Marion at 24 points. Second ranked East Fairmont checked in at sixth with 22 points.

LKC runner-up Clay County, which defeated the Tigers by 3.5 points for the Region IV championship last Saturday at Roane County, went 8-2. Jack Cummings received a forfeit at 106 while Panthers Justin Triplett (113), Alex Suite (132) and Tyler Stewart (160) each registered mat slappers.

The three Mid-Ohio Valley teams with only one entrant apiece in the state tournament were unable to pick up a victory. Root pinned Tyler Consolidated's Joe Henthorn in 3:10, Mike Houser of St. Marys lost via a second period pin to Petersburg 170-pounder Tyler Rohrbaugh and Ravenswood 170-pounder Patrick Berry suffered a 15-0 technical fall setback to Jake Tyler of Nicholas County.

Magnolia's only win came thanks to 195-pounder Jared Wright, who major decisioned Bluefield's Shawn Pennington 15-4.